An Open-Source Social Robot Based on Compliant Soft Robotics for Therapy with Children with ASD

Abstract

Therapy with robotic tools is a promising way to help improve verbal and nonverbal communication in children. The robotic tools are able to increase aspects such as eye contact and the ability to follow instructions and to empathize with others. This work presents the design methodology, development, and experimental validation of a novel social robot based on CompliAnt SofT Robotics called the CASTOR robot, which intends to be used as an open-source platform for the long-term therapy of children with autism spectrum disorder (CwASD). CASTOR integrates the concepts of soft actuators and compliant mechanisms to create a replicable robotic platform aimed at real therapy scenarios involving physical interaction between the children and the robot. The validation shows promising results in terms of robustness and the safety of the user and robot. Likewise, mechanical tests assess the robot’s response to blocking conditions for two critical modules (i.e., neck and arm) in interaction scenarios. Future works should focus on the validation of the robot’s effectiveness in the therapy of CwASD.

The GummiArm Project: A Replicable and Variable-Stiffness Robot Arm for Experiments on Embodied AI

“…(E) a parametric, modular and open source robot head for the GummiArm (Netzev et al, 2019 ). (F) soft and robust arms for a huggable social robot (Casas-Bocanegra et al, 2020 ). (G) a variable stiffness actuated snake (Draper et al, 2017 ).…”

“…In Casas-Bocanegra et al ( 2020 ), a novel social robot is presented for Social Assistive Robotics (SAR). The work spans the design, development and validation of a SAR robot.…”

“…One of the objectives of a SAR robot is to provide tactile interactions to mediate between the CwASD, its peers, and adults. The prototype developed by Casas-Bocanegra et al ( 2020 ), CASTOR, was an open source, modular, humanoid robot, which arms are a simplification of the GummiArm. That is, using only 3 DOF, and removing the servos that provide co-contraction (and therefore the variable stiffness), which leads to Series Elastic Actuation (SEA).…”

“…We believe that promoting replication of experiments involving physical robots, and approaches for Embodied AI in particular, is needed to make real progress, and to address real-world robotics challenges. The GummiArm has inspired a set of experiments ranging from sensorimotor contingencies (Houbre et al, 2020 ), to using central pattern generators (Degroote et al, 2020 ), to huggable soft robots (Casas-Bocanegra et al, 2020 ), and even first attempts at truly replicable robotics experiments (Bonsignorio and Zereik, 2020 ). It has also inspired robots capable of picking raspberries autonomously in complex real-world scenarios.…”

Conception d'interactions virtuelles et tangibles pour apprendre la collaboration motrice à des enfants avec Trouble du Spectre de l'Autisme

“…Ainsi, l'ensemble des actionneurs du dispositifs ont été mis en série avec des ressorts pour apporter de l'élasticité au robot en cas de collision et offrir une expérience de «toucher doux » [37]. Très récemment, le projet CASTOR (CompliAnt SofT Robotics) a développé un robot (figure 2, droite) aussi basé sur les principes de la «robotique douce »(soft robotics) en vue de permettre la mise en place de thérapies sociales en contexte réel et avec engagement physique [38]. Si la robotique douce ouvre la porte des thérapies motrices et sociales pour des enfants atteints de TSA, elle n'en est qu'à ses débuts et l'élasticité inhérente de ces robots semblent aller en contradiction avec le besoin de co-manipulation d'une action conjointe.…”